Proudest Moments

[silverheart7]

What are your proudest moments from Science Olympiad?

[Skink]

joining the ultimate nerd forums

[EastStroudsburg13]

For me, it has to be helping my high school team finally make it to states in my senior year. I found it especially gratifying that I was able to build up a team that placed 15th at regionals in my freshman year, and whose only medals were earned by me, and guide them to the point where we placed 2nd and many other team members experiences their own success.

[FullMetalMaple]

Oh, heck. A lot.

I think one of my best moments was getting first in Astro at state last year, though. I didn't get to compete at state my freshman year, so sophomore year was my first time. I did Astronomy with my older brother, who had been the state champion the previous year. He really wanted another gold, since he was a senior. When we got fourth, I was so disappointed because I thought I had let him down. I made it my goal to get first my junior year - and, although everyone told me it would be lots of work and next to impossible, I got first. All that studying, all that fighting with my partner, all that trying to win for my brother paid off.

I've had people, especially others who regularly win firsts, tell me that it's not a big deal, but it meant a lot to me.

Oh, and then there was getting silver\third place in Protein Modeling at state as a sophomore with no help from my partners, who were seniors. Especially when I thought I had failed in all of my other events.

I hope I have lots of other proud moments this year, but even if I don't, getting this far is the big thing. I originally didn't want to join Science Olympiad because I didn't think I was smart enough - yet here I am, team captain.

[Skink]

On a more serious note, there are the big things to be proud of and the small things. I'm being vague on purpose, but the big things are probably the medal shown in my sig and the fact that my team had its highest overall placing ever last season, which was an incredible feat.

Sometimes, the small things are even just as worth being proud of, however. After while, the competitions become a blur. You don't remember the exact placements in each event every season at every tournament; it just turns into 'Oh, we did well in that one.' Seeing someone pick up an esoteric scienctific concept (saltwater intrusion, synaptic reuptake, heat death of the universe, take your pick!) is just as rewarding as winning a medal for knowing those things. I understand it's kind of a cop-out, but I'd say the entire season is always a proudest moment because it allows you to reflect back on both the big wins and all the little memories and insights gained during that time. Each season always brings its new challenges and rewards; that's part of why Science Olympiad is so exciting! The only reason I could see *not* being proud of any level of accomplishment is if nobody tries, but I, at least, don't deal with that problem often.

[foreverphysics]

My proudest moment...
This would have to be waaay back in sixth grade, when I had just joined and literally knew nothing. Somehow, I made the State team for my school--and back then, it was pretty hard for sixth graders to make the competitive State team for the middle school. That year, I was in Physical Science Lab, and me, being the studier, had prepared for the test, and had only slapped a blade together the night before in about ten minutes. However, I had also studied the curves and shapes of PSL blades, and had figured out which ones worked best, and tried to cut it that way. Even so, we had to use materials that had already been used, all coated with glue and sawdust and other icky stuff.

Then at State, they canceled the PSL test, because there wasn't anyone to write it, apparently. Therefore, the entirety of our score depended on the performance of our blade. We went up there, tested it, and felt our hearts sink, because the spin of the blade was actually about 200-300 mV lower than usual.
We got second.
That was an absolutely amazing moment--my first medal at States, and the knowledge that had it performed up to par, there was a chance we could have gotten first. (They guy who got first was this amazing engineer/builder freshman from the junior high, who medalled gold in all of his events except for a single bronze in Shock Value.)
That is, without doubt, my proudest moment.

EDIT: Fixing some grammar

[mnstrviola]

Although I won 1st last year at DynPlnt States, I consider the 2nd in Aquifers a more prideful achievement.

I got paired with my sister, who at the time was a real aquitard ( jk sis). It was really fun working on the model, and we had even more fun presenting it to our other family members. We especially worked really hard getting her to learn her bit of the presentation, the water table and the un/satured zones. She kept on mixing them up, so I was really worried the day of states. During that morning, we woke up really early and practiced a few times more over a waffle breakfast. When we presented to the judge, everything went really smoothly including her flawless performance. The judge said he really liked our presentation, then gave us a few pointers. Despite winning 2nd, I'm still very happy with the overall experience. I learned a lot about aquifers, got over my fear of presenting (at least for the time being), and had some brother-sister bonding time. Finally we had fun, and that is what SciOly is all about, right?

[Skink]

Despite winning 2nd, I'm still very happy with the overall experience. I learned very possibly the most useless information ever, got over my fear of presenting (at least for the time being), and had some brother-sister bonding time. Finally we had fun, and that is what SciOly is all about, right?

Am I right?
Disclaimer: my sig medal is a 1st at State in the same event, so I do think I'm qualified to joke about that. You can call that a proud achievement, too, considering I adorn my posts with it.

[DazzlingMer]

Let's see....

Getting 5th at the Boyceville tournament in WIDI. My sister freaked out the previous year and didn't get far writing anything.

That same year, my partner and I got 7th at state for Wind. Mind you, we didn't know anything on the test and drew a terrible "transformer" on a question about transformers. When we found out we had to put resistance on the current, we had a setback since it was already late in the season. After all said and done, the blades went up to 1.2 something without resistance and I saw it only went .280 at state. It was interesting to see people with completely un-aerodynamic blades to compare to how we had done.

Getting 1st in Forestry this past year at state. I literally fell over all the chairs in the auditorium, and then our coach was the one giving out 1st medals. Getting to tell my dad afterwards was hilarious, because I showed him the medal and asked him what color it was, which he said bronze. Wow.

[A Person]

Getting to tell my dad afterwards was hilarious, because I showed him the medal and asked him what color it was, which he said bronze. Wow.

I think that silver is prettier than gold, because medals are weirdly colored.